Unclasses

For some reason I thought it started later tonight…but I’m probably wrong. I will assume it’s the regular time (7:30 pm). See you soon!

Looking forward to tonight, too! Laura – did our regular 7:30 time change?

Are we meeting at 7:30 or 8:30 tonight? Looking forward to it!

Are we still down to practice together in lieu of our lesson tomorrow?

Location suggestions?

if anyone needs a ride from the mission… 415.336.6389

Hey everyone, looking forward to tonight! The address for the class is 532 Ashbury St
San Francisco, CA 94117

Mike asked that we all meet on the porch and then ring the bell when everyone is there so he doesn’t have to go up and down the stairs. If everyone can try to arrive around 7:20ish, we can get upstairs to start the lesson on time.

Bring your guitars of course…and don’t forget the $20!

Killer. With Holly, we’re at capacity with 5 folks for the class. Those of you that are still interested but couldn’t join this round, let me know and I’m happy to help set something up with Mike in the future. If you’d like to stop receiving these email notifications, just visit the class page and click on “drop this class” next to the same button you used to sign up.

Everyone else – excited to see you all tomorrow and get our guitar on!

rahmin

So excited to join (motivated by Emily)! I own an acoustic guitar that I am embarrassed to say I received as a birthday present more than 5 years ago & have barely touched, so I’m starting pretty much from scratch with chords & strumming!

Awesome. Next Tuesday and the first class are coming right up! As a reminder, all you need to do is show up with an acoustic guitar (Inna was kind enough to offer her second guitar in case you’re in need)

Each class will cost $100 for the group and will be divided by the number of students. Right now, 4 of us are confirmed (Emily, Inna, Laura, and myself), so it will be $25/class. Jess, I saw you just added the class in the last few days — are you going to join us? Check out the stream of comments for the lowdown and let me know in the coming days if you can!!

Mike, our instructor, also had a request. He’s out of town Tuesday 7/20 (our second session) and hoped we could reschedule our class that week for Monday, July 19th at 8:30p. If that works on everyone’s end, awesome. If not, we can just skip that week.

Finally, I may be out of the country after our class on August 3rd. Depending on whether we’re able to reschedule the class on 7/20 or not, I’ll miss 2 or 3 classes. On the bright side, everyone else in the class will get more personal attention. But, we will still need to pay the $100 class fee, so the cost/person/class will go up a bit.

If everyone can bring checks with them on Tuesday, that would be awesome!

Give me a ring (415.336.6389) or shoot me an email [rahmin at unclasses dot org] if there are any questions

rock on!
rahmin

Awesome. Just had a call with Mike earlier today; we’re all set for this coming Tuesday. Class will cost $100 total, whether we have 4 or 5 people. I think a friend of mine, Rob, is also going to join so we should have 5. In any case, I’ll be in touch with more details in the coming days.

stoked.

rahmin

I can play the major chords and a few others I learned for the couple of songs I can play. I have 2 acoustic guitars if anyone needs to borrow one! Also, if we’re going to be in the haight – I’m going to club deluxe after for their amazing pizza if anyone wants to join me. They’ll probably even let us practice ;)

I also have an acoustic guitar and have very basic knowledge of the open major chords. I started learning on a left-handed guitar last year, but have decided to learn right-handed this go-around (figure it’s a learning curve either way). Looking forward to the class!

I own an acoustic guitar. I am trying to learn the open chords on my own. Right now I know G, D and Am, as I’ve been trying to Learn "Three Marlenas by The Wallflowers. Don’t know any strumming patterns. Basically I’m starting at the beginning. :)

Awesome. Thanks for taking the lead Emily!

I just spoke with Mike and he’s going to be a great teacher – 15 years experience including 7 where he taught at the Blue Bear School of Music. Mike thought that a group like ours was a great way to start off as beginners, giving us a group of people to practice with and learn from outside of class. He also shared that he’ll be teaching the basics of improvisation to everyone, so one person can play a series of chords in the background while another riffs!! Sounds awesome.

Inna, Emily, Laura and myself are all confirmed right now. Tim/Cynthia, we have room for one more if you can make it.

We’re locked and loaded to start class on Tuesday, 7/13 at 7:30p. Limited to street parking in the area but there are a number of buses and transportation options. I’ll update the class page with the full address.

/rahmin

First homework assignment:

• What experience do you have with the guitar today? Can you play open chords? Barre chords? Know any strumming patterns? Never held a guitar before? (I can play the basic open chords for example – E, G, C, D, A)

• What kind of guitar do you own / plan to bring to class? (acoustic, classical, electric)

Thanks for your commitment everyone! We are going to move ahead with this class now that we have 4 committed. We have room for 1 more person if anyone else is still interested. If it stays with only 4, the cost per person will probably go up slightly as Mike quoted it for 5.

The class officially starts Tuesday, 7/13 at 7:30pm and will last for 6 consecutive weeks. Rahmin will be sending Mike a deposit of $50 to hold the class, and we can work out how to split it the first time we meet.

Address for the location will be shared with the group once we have it.

Thanks all – you don’t know how excited I am to get started. :)

Count me in.

This sounds great! I’m in too.

Hey Emily – awesome – I’m in!

Hey everyone, I’ve talked to two independent teachers and it sounds like Mike Powell will be a good fit for our group.

Details on Mike:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/guitar-lessons-with-mike-powell-san-francisco

Details on class:

-$20 a person (but we have to hit at least 5 people for the group)
-he’d like us to commit to 6 weeks because he believes we need that much time for a beginner course
-we can meet at his home in the Haight
-sessions are 1 hour long
-he has a time slot available on Tuesday nights at 7:30pm
-start date would be 7/13

let me know if this sounds good to everyone and if I’m missing any info you need to make a decision. thanks and excited to get started!

The folks at Blue Bear were super responsive and their teachers are used to classes with 7+ students, so our group size will work well.

DATES/TIMES (available in the month of June):

• Monday (6p, or 8p)
• Wednesday (6:30p, 8p)

COST

• $35 annual membership
• $90 tuition per student for 4 classes

Total: $125 each

Blue Bear is located near the Fort Mason center.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/blue-bear-school-of-music-san-francisco

I’ll post the other packages as they come together!

Ok Guys – I put out feelers with the following teachers / organizations:

• http://www.bluebearmusic.org
• http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/muc/1738042006.html
• http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/muc/1737267137.html

Should have a few options for us in the coming 24 hours! Lot’s of love to @Emily for suggesting the teachers!

- rahmin

I actually need to learn the basic chords. I had lessons 13 years ago…gulp…so that pretty much means I am starting from ground zero. Otherwise, the rest sounds good.

Alrighty folks – thanks for joining the experiment! Four is a good size for a learning group so I’ll start the hunt for a killer instructor. I’m assuming:

• We each have our own acoustic guitars
• Can meet for an official lesson once a week for at least 4 weeks – preferably on a week night
• Focus on folk/pop/rock/blues songs instead of classical

Plan is that we’ll be able to play a few songs by the end of this. Personally, I can play the open chords right now but have no strumming skills/rhythm. Do you all have any experience so far? Any other dimensions that I should keep in mind when hunting for an instructor?

/rahmin